Activities/Function of Office :

The functions of a modern office can be divided into the following categories; and they are:
1. Basic or routine functions.
2. Administrative management functions or ancillary functions.
The following are the basic functions of an office:
1. To receive or collect information.
2. To prepare a record of such information.
3. To process and arrange such information.
4. To supply readymade information to the authorities when asked for.
1. To receive or collect information:
The primary function of the office is to receive information from the various departments of
the organization or from outside through enquiries, reports, orders, circulars, complaints,
messages etc. If the information received is not complete, the office tries to collect
information by sending out enquiries of clarifications.
There may be different types of meeting within or outside the organization and pieces of
information will be helpful to the management and therefore the office has to collect it.
2. To prepare records of information:
Information is usually received in the form of letters, enquiries, phone calls etc. and this
information has to be converted into other forms, which can easily be followed by the
management. These are orders, quotations, price-lists, replies to enquiries and complaints,
account books, etc., within the organization. All these records will be retained for further
reference.
According to the nature of the information, the record may be retained for many years or they
may be safely kept for a few years, after which they can be destroyed. The records of
information prepared in the office must be preserved safely, made available to the
management within no time and must be easy to understand.
The books like cash-book, purchase book, sales-book, goods returns book, productive expense
and other ledgers are to be kept by every office. Besides the account-books, other books will
have to be maintained by the office in order to have a smooth function of the organization.
3. To process and arrange information:
The information received by the office may be lengthy and the same in its original form may
not be much useful to the management. Therefore, after collecting such information, it will be
processed, categorized, arranged and systematically kept for readymade information.

Certain letters will have to be converted into charts, statements etc. by doing calculations or
analysis over such information. For instance, orders have been received every day and
complied.
Ex. Sales Report ( weekly, quarterly, Half Yearly, Annual) This can be done through charts,
statements etc. Then the sales manager is at ease to understand the position of the sales by
looking at the statements or charts and come to a decision within no time.
4. To supply readymade information to the authorities:
An office is a machine which receives raw materials (scattered information) and produces
various items through processes (compiled and tillable). The office receives information
through letters, phones, meetings, complaints, business transactions, etc.

Administrative and Management Functions:

1. Management function:
The most important administrative functions of the manager include planning, organizing,
staffing, directing, communicating, controlling, coordinating and motivating. The office
manager must organize the office on modern lines for the efficient and effective performance.
2. Development of office systems and procedures:
All the jobs in the office are interrelated and interdependent. As such an office must provide
better services to interrelated departments. For a smooth flow of work, development of office
system and procedures is essential.
3. Form designing and control:
Forms are the basic tools for all types of office work. There are many operations which can be
systematized with the use of printed forms. Besides, the use of the forms saves time and
energy at every operation. Information can be collected, recorded or processed systematically
and effectively with the help of office forms. Therefore, it is the task of the management to
design and to control the forms.
4. Selection and purchase of office appliances:
The office manager must purchase the appropriate machines, equipment or furniture for the
office. Office work requires adequate equipment, machines and furniture and they must be
maintained properly for the efficient working order. Appliances must be selected for full and
proper uses.
They must be suitable for the purpose. They must be simple in operation and maintenance.
They must be flexible and adaptable to different uses. The cost and benefit must be compared
when the appliances are purchased.
5. Personnel functions:

The personnel function is performed by the personnel department. It is assisted by the office.
It recruits and selects the personnel. It places them in different jobs in the office. For the
efficient performance of the basic functions of the office, provision of adequate and trained
staff is necessary. The staff must get reasonable salary. Staff must be properly motivated to
achieve the best performance.
6. Controlling office costs:
Office costs may be controlled by using machines in the office, using labour-saving devices
and adopting improved methods of management.
7. Maintenance of records:
This is a secondary function of an office. Copies of all the correspondence must be retained for
further reference. From a business firm, a number of letters go out daily and a number of
replies are received, and if the copies of the original letters against which the replies have
been received, are not available, the decision cannot be taken wisely.
Therefore all the records must be maintained through proper filing system and preserved for
number of years. Certain documents need not be kept for more than a year while certain
documents have to be kept for a number of years.
8. Planning schemes and policies:
In the present stage, production is always in anticipation of demand. Therefore for a
manufacturing concern, it has become essential to plan the activities of the concern for the
future period.
One cannot take a decision or plan unless one goes into the previous records and relevant
statistical data, studies the present market trends, and takes decisions on basis of all
information of the past period.
When a proper plan has been chalked out, it will be adopted as a policy. Planning and policies
will be good, when they have been drawn out carefully with the help of the office, through
collecting and processing information.
9. Safeguarding the assets:
The job of an office is not only extended from the receipt of information to the supply of
processed information, but also to take care of various assets. To keep the record of
customers (debtors) and keep the management to be informed of about the doubtful debts so
that necessary steps may be taken to prevent the occurrence of bad debts.
Books of accounts of all types (personal, real and nominal) are to be kept regularly. Among
them the most important are fixed assets plant, machinery, fixtures, buildings and current
assets goods, stationery, debtors, bills receivable, cash in hand, cash at bank, etc.
All these are the properties of the concern and the office must arrange to protect and
safeguard the assets against destruction, damage, loss by theft, fire etc. The management
must be informed of all types of misappropriation matters so that its occurrence will be
prevented in future through investigations.

10. Public relations:

Public relations signify the relations of a business organization with the general public, usually
through the distribution of information. Public relations guide business enterprise. Public
relations are guided by public opinions.
The functions of Public Relations are:
(a) To inform managers of the current status and the changes in the opinions of public. The
public can be divided into two-internal and external. The internal public is key policy makers,
supervisory personnel; employees and shareholders. The external publics are customers,
suppliers and the general public.
(b) To suggest purposeful relations with the public and to warn unfavorable reactions.
(c) To communicate to the public the company's policies and actions. Public interest is an
essential element for any good public relations. Office is the eyes and ears of a business. It is
the hand which makes friends for a company.